8 Simple Ways to Stop Swaddling

It’s a security blanket (literally) for parents who are looking for ways to calm fussy babies.

But somewhere around 4-5 months old, the sweet Smeagol is transformed into a deadly dangerous Gollum.

That’s because the 4-5 month age range is usually when most babies start rolling over.

That’s bad news bears for the swaddle.

If a baby rolls over unto his tummy and doesn’t have arms to help him continue onto his back, he could accidentally suffocate against the mattress. *shudder*

Not. Cool.

So how do you wean your baby off this preciousssssssss sleep-soother?

Gently.

Stop Swaddling Tactic #1 The Turtle Approach

The Turtle Approach: Slow and steady wins the race.

Hey, if it works for Aesop…

Nights 1 & 2: Unswaddle the non-dominant arm first.

Nights 3 & 4: Unswaddle the other arm.

Nights 5 – Eternity: Remove the swaddle. High-five your spouse.

Want an easy-peasy way to do this? This convertible swaddler is mind-blowingly simple. (Don’t you love it when a product exactly meets your needs?)

Handy tip! If you use the swaddle to keep your infant from going all Edward Scissorhands on his sweet little face, try putting socks on his hands or filing down his nails (instead of clipping).

Stop Swaddling Tactic #2 The Sloth Approach

For sensitive babies who struggle adjusting to changes, the Turtle Approach just may be too fast.

Enter: The Sloth.

In this method you’re helping your baby get used to the feeling of having his arms loose and flapping, but instead of loose to the air, they’re loose inside a sleep sack with the arm holes sewn up or a Zipadee Zip (if you’re like me and have the sewing skills of a horse).

Nights 5 & 6: Remove the swaddle completely, so child is “free like a bird” inside the sleep sack.

Night 7 & 8: Remove the non-dominant arm from the sleep sack.

Night 9: Remove the other arm from the sleep sack. Dance to Pharrell Williams’ Happy.

Stop Swaddling Tactic #3 Cold Turkey

Cold turkey is the postmodern approach to weaning the swaddle: It’s easy and hard.

It’s easy because you don’t do anything. (Literally. You just stop swaddling.)

It’s hard because it may take days and days of tears before your infant learns how to self-soothe without it.

Think through your baby’s personality before starting the Cold Turkey Anti-Swaddling Approach. (It may just save you a nuclear holocaust of tears.)

Stop Swaddling Tactic #4 Introducing Lovey McCuddles

I’m a big fan of loveys.

They are like little voodoo dolls only with cuddles instead of pins.

Your baby links you to an item, and then uses that item for comfort when you’re sleeping in the next room. It’s one of my favorite secret weaponsin the sleep coaching process.

You can use a small blanket or small stuffed animal – just make sure it’s easily grabbed, but doesn’t have any beads or chokeable items attached to it.

Give it to your baby when you’re snuggling and rocking him.

Put it between you and your baby when you’re nursing or bottle feeding.

Use it to play peek-a-boo.

If it’s a stuffed animal, have it “talk” to your baby and kiss his face while he giggles.

Tuck it into the car seat, so he can hold it when traveling. (You may want to buy two!)

The goal is for him to smell and think happy mom-and-dad thoughts whenever he’s holding it.

To use Lovey McCuddles in swaddle weaning, place it on the shoulder, next to the cheek. This way when your baby startles or reaches for his head, he will find the Lovey McCuddles right there and be soothed.

If it’s a blanket, tuck the majority of the blanket under the crib so just the corner is brushing the cheek. You don’t want him to accidentally pull it over his head. That’s a safety hazard.

Stop Swaddling Tactic #5 The Loosey-Goosey

With this method, you simply move from “straight jacket tight” to “spring jacket loose” over a period of a week. This helps your baby get used to the feeling of still being swaddled, but having more wiggling room than he’s been used to.

As an extra bonus, if your baby manages to wiggle so much that a part of the fabric covers his face, he can still easily breathe through the muslin material the Aden & Anais blankets are made of.

If you’re not sure how to swaddle your baby with just a blanket, this video will walk you through it.

Stop Swaddling Tactic #6 From Burrito to Taco

Instead of swaddling him up like a burrito, turn him into a taco.

Roll up two blankets, secure them with rubber bands, and slide them under the crib sheet, on the crib mattress. It’s the same method that we used to create the fake “swing” in the article Why Your Baby Hates His Crib.

This is extremely effective for babies who really love the cozy-close feeling the swaddle gives. It’s also a great way to stop your baby from rolling over, getting stuck, and then screaming his lungs out at 2am for you to come and roll him back over.

Stop Swaddling Tactic #7 The Triangle Swaddle

This method was introduced to me by one of my instructors in the Sleep Certification program, Andrea Strang.

I finished up my Gentle Sleep Coaching Coursework this month, so I’ll be able to work one-on-one with many of you to meet you and your baby’s personal sleeping goals! Sign up here and I’ll email you when I’m taking new clients!

Stop Swaddling Tactic #8 Cheaters Sometimes Win

When it comes to weaning off the swaddle, cheating is absolutely a smart strategy.

Here are a few of my favorite “less work is more sleep” cheats.

The Baby Merlin Magic Sleep Suit

This may, in fact, be the coolest name for a sleeping product EVER.

I think if they had Merlin Magic Sleep Suit for adults, I would be tempted…

The abracadabra sleeping suit is designed for babies from 2-9 months. It’s specially padded to help muffle the automatic twitches and startles that can wake babies and provides that slight gentle pressure that so many swaddled babies love.

Yes, it looks like Randy’s snowsuit… but over 200 Amazon parents gave it 5 stars, so I guess the unicorn hairs and phoenix feathers are really paying off.

The Convertible Woombie

The Woombie is one of my favorite swaddlers, so I was really excited when I saw that they made a convertible swaddle for parents who are “looking down the road”.

It’s the traditional (and very popular) woombie design, only it has the arms in separate little “pockets” to take out each arm. (Like in the Turtle Approach to swaddle weaning.)

Comments

Fantastic article, as ever. We had to ‘wean’ our baby from his swaddle cold turkey when he was under a month old last summer because of a brutal heat wave that meant he had to sleep in just a nappy. (It also left us housebound with a newborn for what felt like eternity). This is also super-useful for right now though as we’re trying to encourage him to bond to a lovey. So timely and helpful – thank you!

My first loved her swaddle. When it came time to wean her from it though, it was difficult. We started by letting her keep her arms bent (if you tight swaddle you have to lay them flat or the baby gets loose, this time her arms were bent.) That allowed her to work her arms out as she was ready. Then we started leaving one arm out, then both arms out but giving her the feel of something swaddling her middle. We could see that she would roll over both ways even with the swaddle around her middle, and she liked that feeling of being held (as well as it helped with her reflux.) That continued for… like… forever. Since she was literally 6 inches from my bed, I never saw her get stuck, and if she had I would have heard it. Then it was over.

She was different too though… we had to lay her on her side and tilt the bed for reflux, so she didn’t have much freedom to move around until she was older and the reflux was easing (around 7-9 months. When she started rolling and scooting to the bottom of her crib.) It was the only way she wouldn’t projectile vomit all over the place, to be tightly swaddled. My other two were never swaddled, and I had the swaddles all ready this time musilm and perfect and beautiful. But it was summer for my son and he was too hot to sleep in anything but his diaper, and my third didn’t seem to care, she wanted snuggles with us and that was that.

My daughter is almost 5 months and loved the swaddle but has been breaking out a few times a night for the past few weeks and crying until Reswaddled. Occasionally she’d resettle but only 1/10 times. We tried the zipadee zip cold turkey two days ago. Started with her morning nap and it only took her 8 minutes to self settle and ~15 minutes to resettle between sleep cycles with only mild fussing. Her afternoon nap was even better and then her night sleep she was asleep within 3 minutes if being zipped and slept from 6.45pm until 4.50am without a peep! She’s never done that swaddled!! I think she would have resettled but I breastfeed and was in agony so fed her and she slept til 7am. Last night was the same! Amazing!!!

Wish me luck! It’s time my little monkey loses his swaddle…we use the miracle swaddle blanket or straight jacket as we call it, as he is such an active baby just never kept still. He adores his swaddle and smiles at me every time I wrap him in it. Now he has been waking up and we find him all tangled up in the swaddle as he is too strong now. So tomorrow I’m going to begin weaning him. Not sure which method to use though, let’s hope it’s quick and painless for our little family!

My 4mo old still has to be rocked to sleep or he just gets over-tired and won’t sleep. I want to drop the swaddle because he’s trying to roll and I know it’s coming soon. Do I need to stop rocking him to sleep first and then drop the swaddle, stop swaddling then stop rocking, or do both at the same time? Also, if he wakes up after a few minutes should I let him cry, rock him back to sleep, or get him up?
Thanks!

Start with weaning him from the swaddle since that will be a safety issue when he starts to roll (nothing as scary as finding your swaddled baby face down in the crib!). It sure is sweet rocking your little one to sleep, isn’t it? I have a 3 1/2 month old and I love having her in my arms! However, you are right to work with your little one so it doesn’t become a crutch. Use this link to help you find a number of helpful sleep training articles!

My almost 4month old started rolling over this past weekend so I knew it was time the swaddle had to go. This article gave us a ton of options and I am so grateful. As a first time mom, I feel like every decision I make can be the wrong one so just reading and knowing everything I am going through is the norm is helpful. We tried the slower approaches but she still kept trolling over giving me minor heart attacks so “forced my hand” and we had to do cold turkey. Last night was our first attempt and I have to say it wasn’t as painful as I anticipated but it wasn’t “easy” either. Had to let her cry herself to sleep a couple of times and I did get up once to feed and change her because it became a hunger cry. I’m not sure if she is too young for this method. Any additional advice? Should I just keep at it and hope the self soothing and removing of the swaddle isn’t too overwhelming for her? Thanks for whatever you can offer up!

Nicki,
It’s so hard to listen to your little one cry, isn’t it?! I love that you are following your “mommy instincts” though and of course it’s most important to keep her safe (it’s SO scary to find your baby face down when swaddled!). It’s not too early to do some sleep training. You know her hunger cry and she might need some extra cuddles but you can let her start to learn how to self sooth. Take a look at these sleep articles for some helpful hints. Keep up the good work, may you all be sleeping peacefully soon!

Just wondering how I can tell which arm is his dominant one? Does it matter that much which arm I un swaddle first? Thanks for the tips, this is such an informative, funny and entertaining blog! It’s my go-to for all my feeding and sleep information.

I thoroughly enjoyed this review! Personally, I found the solution to the swaddle transition nightmare! My son REFUSED to sleep without the swaddle, and we tried every trick in the book. He just hated having his arms free and would scratch herself to bits. I finally tried the Zipadee-Zip and was super skeptical that it would even work since literally nothing else had and to my utter shock, he slept 12 hours the first night in it! Crazy! I guess the resistance in the arm span is what gives him the feeling of being swaddled and soothes his startle reflex but the star shape gives him the ability to push up and roll over. He couldn’t safely roll in the swaddle and when he would break free, I’d find the loose fabric over his face which terrified me! The Zipadee-Zip (www.sleepingbaby.com is where I found it) gave him the security to be able to sleep swaddle free which means I SLEPT TOO!!! Thank goodness for this thing! This company is doing wonderful things!

We are in the process of weaning out 4 1/2 month old off the swaddle. We had great success with the one arm, but the two arms last night was brutal. He seems to be searching for something to grab onto. We tried the zippy sack, but didn’t seem to make much of a difference. I thought about introducing a lovey into bed, but isn’t that a safety hazard?

One thing we recommend is if you want to use a blanket of any kind make sure you can tuck one end firmly under the end of the mattress and then put your child in the sleeping bag type set up. This way your little one can’t pull it over his head. I also recommend a crocheted blanket. It’s nice and warm but it has plenty of holes so you don’t have to worry about safety!

One other thought, you may just need a night or two more with the one arm before you switch to two again!

Hi. I have a 3 month old daughter and she has been slipping one or both hands out of her swaddle and that of course wakes her up and I’ll have to re-swaddle in the middle of the night. She has just gotten too strong and no matter how tight I swaddle, she wakes up. Her favorite thing to do is chew on her fingers… ALL the time. The thing with that is, she won’t fall asleep like that. So, we startes using a binky which works wonders, but she spits it out and then will chew on her fingers. When the swaddle does work, she sleeps a good 10 hours. Also, she has started showing a preference to sleeping on her side.
I was just curious about your opinion on how I should wean her from the swaddle. Should I let her have an arm free and see what happens or go cold turkey and let her learn to self soothe?

Cold turkey can be hard on all of you. I do think your idea of letting her have one arm free is a good one. When she starts rolling over (which could be soon) then you’ll need to wean her, but step by step is a nice, gentle way to go.
By the way, have you noticed that your little one has chapped hands? My little one also sucks on her hands all the time and has dry skin because of it, poor baby!

Our LO loved to be swaddle but we stopped when she was rolling over because of safety concerns. We transitioned her into the zipadee zip and it was truly a lifesaver. She slept so well in it and it gave me the peace of mind knowing it was safe for her!

Nancy

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2014-02-22T13:12:17+00:00

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